Factoring treadwear into purchase

[Bartly]

So, my car is a daily driver, no track action for me (yet). I put a supercharger on it, and and with that lost my edge when wanting to lay on the gas. So I want to go wider in the rear, not sure if that will give me a whole lot of extra traction or not.

It seems like sticky tires are what would improve it the most. I'm thinking that 260ish treadwear is what most would classify as sticky? But so many reports of tires that have 300-340 treadwear are an improvement over stock.

Looks like the old Michelin Pilot Super Sport's has treadwear 300, are these the ones everyone fell in love with? If so their treadwear is pretty high above p-zero's. I looked up the treadwear of the summer p-zero's and it's 220. I just don't get how so many brands get better reviews for their traction when their treadwear is above what came stock.

Lately I see all kinds of kudo's for Firestone Firehawk Indi 500 with 340 for it's treadwear, people are saying they grip better than the p-zero's. How is it possible that guys say there they handle better than p-zeros?

Another one is the Continental Extreme Contact Sport, it's treadwear is 340. Again this is another one that gets plenty of reviews as an improvement.

I just don't get it, can someone share some experience on this? Thanks for any input.

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[Berstuck]

Treadwear rating does not equal grip.

 

[Bartly]

Treadwear rating does not equal grip.

Damn, did I get that wrong. Now I gotta go figure that out, I guess I just assumed the softer the rubber the shorter lifespan.

 

[VinnAY]

You want to be looking at categories of tires like summer, max summer, ultra summer, and so forth. I'm not sure that "grip" has a rating.

 

[jbailer]

Damn, did I get that wrong. Now I gotta go figure that out, I guess I just assumed the softer the rubber the shorter lifespan.

That is a good general rule. The softer the compound, the quicker it will wear, there's just a lot more that goes into grip. Have you looked at the new Firestone Firehawk Indy 500? They look to be a great tire and VERY affordable! I should have them tomorrow if things go as planned. There have been a lot of good reports from people that have gotten them. They are summer only though. If you need an all year tire, I am currently running the Conti DWS06 which is decent. Excellent in the winter and traction is better than the summer only Pirellis that came on my PP. Traction could be better though, that's why I'm changing to a summer only set and will have another set of wheels/tires for winter with the Contis on them.

 

[NightmareMoon]

Read up on Tire Rack's comparison reviews of Max and Extreme Performance category tires. They do a pretty good discussion of grip and handling dynamics for the different tires.

As previously stated, softer tires should grip better at the expense of faster wear, but there is an art to tire design, and some tires manage to do both better than others.

 

[Brn N Rubr]

After installing my VMP I had serious traction issues in 2nd and sometimes in third. That was with the stock Pirelli P-Zeros (2015 GT PP). I just put on a brand new set of Continental ExtremeContact Sports (stock size) and I couldn't be happier. The car will dead hook most of the time in 2nd now. Occasionally, depending on temp and road surface, it will haze them as the power comes on in the mid-upper rpm. Regardless, SIGNIFCANT improvement in traction. It's obviously no drag radial, but for me they're perfect for what I'm trying to do right now. My wife drives the car just as much as I do and I now feel so much. Enter about her driving the car.

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